


I'll lend my Christmas with you

by twoohugs



Series: Advent Calendar 2019 [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Remus Lupin & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21788701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoohugs/pseuds/twoohugs
Summary: Sirius sighs dramatically. “And here I thought you brought me here to play matchmaker for me. You wantmeto play matchmaker for you, don’t you?”In which James and Lily’s respective best friends enjoy watching their trainwreck of a budding romance too much.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Advent Calendar 2019 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556131
Comments: 8
Kudos: 116





	1. Sirius

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Hey Good Lookin’ by Why Don't We

It’s a nice day. Winter break has started, the weather is chilly in a nice way, and for the first time this week, it isn’t raining. James, the ever-active one, decided to go outside for a walk, but Sirius is content slumped in his browsing position on the sofa and scrolling through tumblr. 

The peace is broken when James bursts into their apartment, hair even wilder than usual, and basically drags Sirius out without so much as an explanation.

“What the hell, Prongs!” Sirius pants, narrowly missing a lamp post as James carelessly pulls him along the street.

Instead of answering, James keeps sprinting forward, until they reach the new cafe around the corner.

“Look.” He says, slightly out of breath himself.

Sirius peeks through the window, and immediately spots an attractive young man around their age behind the cashier. It’ss a slow time at the shop, so there is nothing blocking his view to the man’s breathtaking lithe form.

“Bloody hell, he’s _gorgeous_ ”. He breathes.

“Exactly! That’s what I- Hold on, _he?_ ” James frowns as he looks over Sirius’s shoulder. “No, no, I’m talking about the girl, come on, Padfoot-” Grabbing Sirius’s shoulders, he turns him slightly to the right towards the coffee machines, where a young woman with red hair is standing.

“Ah.”

“Yes. Isn’t her absolutely beautiful?” James practically swoons.

Sirius sighs dramatically. “And here I thought you brought me here to play matchmaker for me. You want _me_ to play matchmaker for you, don’t you?”

“No, not exactly, I…” Sirius is alarmed to see James actually fretting, “I can’t go talk to her!”

“James Potter, shy?” Sirius teases, but James grimaces in response.

“Erm, I may not have made a very good first impression,” he mumbles.

Raising an amused eyebrow, Sirius smirks and crosses his arms, waiting for James to elaborate.

“Apparently she doesn’t fancy the ‘pretentious asshole that thinks all ladies must trip over themselves for you’ type.” James mutters, glaring when Sirius starts laughing half-way through.

“Pick-up line didn’t work, then, Prongs, my dear friend?” He wipes a stray tear from the corner of his eye, and wraps an arm around James’s shoulder. “You know, the thing about women, sometimes you just have to properly _woo_ them.”

“How do you even-?” James runs his hand through his hair, his frustration clear. Taking mercy on his best mate, Sirius steers him away from the cafe by the shoulders.

“First thing to do, Prongs, is a proper apology.”

“I know, but how? And where are we going?”

“You can’t go wrong with flowers, now, can you?”

* * *

Sirius leans on the counter as he watches his best friend tries (and fails, as far as he can tell) to flirt with the red-haired barista. If he happens to stand right in front of the young man he had his eyes on, well, nobody can prove it was on purpose.

Up close, the man looks even more attractive. He has bright, warm brown eyes that looks rather tired, with a faint ring of grey under them, and his glasses gives him a scholarly feel that makes him look even younger. His whole appearance and gesture is an epitome of gentleness and shyness, and Sirius, who actually uses his brains before he starts flirting (unlike James, the fool), immediately knows that an advance too direct would scare him off. Anyway, by the looks of it, being James’s emotional support would give him plenty of chances to come here in the future.

He peeks at the man, who is also caught up in watching James further embarrass himself, and catches the name on his nametag. _Remus._ He files the name for later use.

To his surprise, it is Remus who starts the conversation.

“Is your friend always like that?” He whispers, his dry tone somehow showing despite the low volume.

“I’d say no, but…” Sirius whispers back just as quietly, so they can still hear the disaster happening right next to them, “well, to be fair, his advances usually receive more positive response.”

Remus snorts. “Lily’s going to give him hell. Is your friend the persistent kind?”

“Probably. I’ve never seen him so enamored.” Sirius says, a quirk in his mouth, “he’s probably going to keep going until he either gets a date, a girlfriend, or a restraining order.” 

Remus chuckles just as Lily snaps, “If you are just going to keep harassing me, sir, please leave the shop.” in the coldest, most venomous tone Sirius has heard in a while. Jame gapes, then bravely declares that he “will be back soon, sweetheart!” before making his escape.

“...Bet you five pounds it’s the restraining order.” Sirius whispers out of the corner of his mouth. Remus actually laughs out loud at this, but before Sirius can properly feel elated at hearing such a pure, wonderful sound, Lily has turned her glare at them.

Sirius raises his hands in surrender, backing up until he reaches the door. Remus hides his grin behind his hand, but his shaking shoulders betray his amusement.

“Erm, I’ll… see you around, Remus.” Remus gives him a friendly wave, and Sirius winks as he nudges the door open with his shoulder. He turns to leave, but not before seeing a beautiful blush make its way up Remus's cheeks.

Sirius still has a grin on his face when he arrives home to see a sulking James.

"We'll go back tomorrow." James announces.

"Of course we would, Prongs." Sirius nods. His best friend's responding eye roll is perhaps a bit too knowing, but Sirius is not one bit embarrassed as he whistles happily in his shower that night, already thinking of things to say to a certain shy, smart barista tomorrow.


	2. Remus

“They’re late.” Remus comments off-handedly, looking up at the clock on the wall.

“So?” Comes Lily’s response from where she is wiping down the tables.

“Nothing.” Remus nothing manages to make Lily admit it, but he knows that his friend is not as repulsed by James’s advances as she appears to be. The day after they first met James and Sirius, he’d pulled Lily aside to ask somberly whether she is actually distressed by it, and after she tells him it’s okay, started enjoying it like a daily sit-com.

“Missing Sirius, are we, Remus?” Lily teases.

Remus feels himself blush, but powers through it and retorts, “Missing James, are we, Lily?” And gives her a honey-won’t-melt smile when she glares. She sighs, dropping the cloth she is holding and coming up to the counter, opposite Remus.

“I’m thinking… I may sayyestohimtoday.” If Remus doesn’t know better, he’d say she’s blushing.

He hums. “Well, it’s Christmas eve tomorrow. It’s the last chance you’ve got at accepting him if you want a date on Christmas.”

“Yeah, but these two weeks I’ve been doing everything I could to be hard-to-get, right? Don’t you think it’s a bit sudden if I just-”

“I’m sure James wouldn’t have kept coming everyday if he believes you actually hate him that much.” Remus interrupts. Lily nods, taking a deep breath to calm down.

“You’re right. What about you?” She says, switching the direction of the conversation to him.

“What about me?” Remus ducks his head, suddenly intrigued by organizing the coins in the cashier machine. Lily none-too-gently smacks him on the head. “Ow!”

“Sirius has been flirting with you since day one, you know it, and you’ve been flirting back.” Lily states matter-of-factly, “don’t think I didn’t notice it just because I’m occupied by James.”

Remus blushes. “It’s nothing.”

Lily rolls her eyes. “Don’t be stupid. I can see the way you two look at each other. Maybe he saw your blushing shy exterior and decides to let you take the first step.”

“Or he saw my blushing shy exterior and decided to just flirt vaguely and make friends?”

“Remus Lupin.” Lily leans forward, face serious. “I know I can’t convince you that he likes you, you have to see that yourself. But you said it yourself, ‘It’s the last chance you’ve got at accepting him if you want a date on Christmas’, unquote. Don’t let yourself regret it when you sit alone in your apartment with only netflix as company on Christmas eve.”

Remus blinks, taken aback by the sudden intensity of her words. “You really think that.” He says quietly, more a statement than a question. “You think he really likes me.”

Lily nods. “I’m almost always right about these things, you know. Just like how I know James actually, genuinely like me, and is not just taking the piss.”

Chuckling at her choice of words, Remus nods in acknowledgement. Lily _does_ have an eye for these things. But there’s this small voice nagging at the back of his head repeating the “almost” again and again.

“We’’ll see.” is all he says. Lily sighs, but leaves him to his thoughts.

Just like Remus and Lily, James seems to have noticed that today is the last day to score himself a date, and returns with renewed gusto.

“Lily!” He shouts as he enters their cafe, a humongous bouquet of roses in his hands. Remus gapes in horror, but a quick glance shows him that Lily has to try very hard to keep her face straight and not betray how pleased she is. Her eyes are gleaming pleasantly, though.

Remus suppresses a grin, just as Sirius saunters in casually and approaches the counter. “Remus,” he calls, much less dramatically than James but just as fondly.

“Sirius.” Remus greets, hoping Sirius cannot see the blush creeping up his neck. _Almost only_ , he reminds himself, _Lily may not be right._

“Think she’ll say yes today?” Sirius asks, leaning in close conspiringly. Remus chuckles nervously, beating himself up for sounding so breathless.

“I think so… I hope so.” He corrects himself. He has hinted to Sirius multiple times over the past week that Lily may not be really against going out with James, but never directly related Lily’s words to him. Remus Lupin is loyal to his friends, afterall. Sirius is more than intelligent enough to read between the lines, though, and would give back similarly thinly-veiled hints about James. Remus is more than glad that they are working together to help James and Lily get together, though he would never admit that he would very much rather get just the slightest hint about _Sirius’s_ own feelings, not his best friend’s.

“If Prongs gets a date on Christmas, I will be left alone.” Sirius pouts. Remus meets his puppy eyes, and quickly averts his gaze before he can simultaneously combust, or something.

“Oh?” Unable to think of a decent reply, Remus decides to just let Sirius do the talking. Usually he’d feel embarrassed when he fails to keep up with conversations, but Sirius seems to be fine with doing all the talking, and never makes Remus feel bad for just listening while he rambles on.

“Yeah, imagine, James going out to a romantic dinner with Lily, and poor Sirius will be spending Christmas alone, in their apartment, with only netflix as company!” His tone rises up to a whine towards the end, but when Remus looks up, his gaze is serious and unwavering, staring hard into Remus’s eyes.

Now, Remus may be pathetically unconfident and hesitant, but he’s not completely blind, okay.

He takes in a breath. “Same for me.” He metaphorically pats himself on the back for his steady tone. On the down side, he sounds so nonchalant he might as well have been commenting on the weather. “I- I’ll probably spend Christmas with netflix, too.”

Sirius leans even closer. Remus can see his own reflection in his clear grey eyes. But he only says, “Oh yeah?”

“Hmm.” _Maybe he saw your blushing shy exterior and decides to let you take the first step._ Lily had said. “That makes two of us.” Remus’s cool facade is failing himーhe is starting to sound as breathless as he feels.

Luckily, Sirius decides to have mercy on him. “So what do you think we should do about it, hmm?” He is close enough to whisper now.

“Well, it only makes sense to spend Christmas together.” Remus can’t help whispering back, leaning closer, “since we have both been abandoned by our respective best friends.”

The wide, gleaming smile spreading on Sirius’s face is even brighter than the flickering Christmas lights outside the shop. Remus blinks at the intensity of it, his answering smile just as wide. They stare at each other with matching grins on their faces, until a loud _clash_ startles them into leaning back and returning to reality.

When Remus finally tears his eyes away from Sirius, he can see the source of the clashーthe tub of stirrers are on the floor, and judging by where James and Lily are frozen on opposite sides of the counter, it was apparently bumped off the counter when the two attempted to kiss with the utensils in the middle. Remus raises an amused eyebrow at Lily, who facepalms, but he can see the corners of her mouth quirking upwards. Opposite him, Sirius barks out a laugh.

When Remus turns back, Sirius is still looking at him with the same intense look in his eyes. “So,” Sirius asks, voice raspy, all pretence at nonchalance gone, “Are we going to wait for Christmas day, or are you free tonight?

“Well,” Remus licks his lips, “our shift ends at six.”

“Perfect.” Sirius leans back, a satisfied grin on his face, “I’ll pick you up at a quarter past.” He waits for Remus to nod, reaches over the counter to peck him on the cheek, and leaves the coffee shop with a carefree wave. “See you tonight, Remus!”

Later, Remus would learn that Sirius and James have made a bet to see who can ask their barista out for a date first, and James has won by mere seconds. Sirius is visibly worried when he tells Remus this, afraid that he’ll think this was all for a bet, but instead Remus just shyly ducks his head because Sirius said he’s _his barista_ , and offers to pay for ice-cream. Sirius just envelopes his ~~barista~~ boyfriend in a bear hug and showers his face with kisses.


End file.
